At first glimpse of the trailer, I couldn’t wait for the movie. I expected a high-budget movie with lots of special effects to portray a fantastic piece of manga fiction. I waited 9 months to watch the movie at the cinema (Genesis Deluxe Cinema, Lagos) last weekend and finally got what I expected… or almost… a high-budget movie with lots of special effects to portray a piece of manga fiction. So what was missing? The characters that made the original cartoon series such a hit.
Set in a world where 4 nations, each associated with the 4 elements (Water, Earth, Fire, and Air) lived in a harmony maintained by the presence of the Avatar (a continuously reincarnated being with the strengths of all 4 elements), The Last Air Bender is a feature film faced with the daunting task of compressing all 20 episodes of the first season (Book 1: Water) of the cartoon series (Avatar: The Last Airbender) into one story. The result was a fast-paced (perhaps too fast) story that zapped through the 20 episodes with no time to build the characters that we (Avatar fans) loved. You will remember the scenes, the dialogues and the incidents, but the people are all strangers.
Almost everyone is a version of Zuko. Aang, the ever so un-serious, fun-loving 12-year old air-bender becomes an overly serious Avatar with the weight of the universe on his shoulders (as you can tell from the stern expression on his face throughout the movie); Sokka looked like he was being forced to declare his love for the Water Tribe princess; and Katara was a mere wisp of the character from the series, a little baby sister that could barely speak out for herself. The Fire Lord was reduced to a mere conniving tyrant rather than the terrifying take-no-prisoners evil king from the series that exiled his own son without any second thoughts, The Northern Water Tribe king’s character is merged into one with Katara’s Water-Bending Master and my favourite character from Season 1, General Irro, Zukko’s Uncle, simply becomes an indecisive not-so-old man that only remembers his fire-bending prowess when it’s too late.
M Night Shyamalan seemed not to realize that the reason Aang became The Boy in the Iceberg was because he was too playful to take on the responsibilities of the Avatar. The reason the Avatar-state is so terrifying is because it is so different from the lovable kid that everyone loves. All of a sudden, Aang wakes up from a 100 years of sleep and he’s ever so eager to fight the Fire Nation. There’s barely any difference between Aang in or out of the Avatar-state.
If you are going to adapt an existing character to film, you should maintain those characteristics that made him/her popular. The reason the Tomb Raider movie was such a hit was because Angelina Jolie represented the popular game character in excruciating detail. Not only was her cup-size accurate, but the idiosyncratic “humph” sound that Lara Croft made occasionally when something piqued her curiosity was not forgotten.
I strongly suspect the movie-makers never actually watched the series. Otherwise they would not have made errors as annoying as mispronouncing the lead character’s name (Aang). I had to get used to the new name (Ong), otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to follow the story. Then there’s the spirit world, which turns out not to be much of a world, as all we see is Aang in a dark cave talking with a slimy serpent-like Dragon that is supposed to be… …Avatar Roku?
The only character that comes to life (albeit barely) is Zuko, the exiled Fire Nation prince, interestingly played by Dev Patel (from the award-winning Slumdog Millionaire). The brooding prince remains familiar with the facial scar that keeps him looking malicious as ever. The special effects and recreation of specific scenes and characters (the Underground Garden beneath the Northern Water Tribe Kingdom, The Blue Spirit, etc) are also worthy of mention. But in all, there’s more to what made Avatar: The Last Airbender a spell-binding series than those details.
If you saw the cartoon series and loved it, you may want to see the movie (on DVD) just to appreciate the special effects. Beyond that, it wasn’t much fun. My Rating? C-
See Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, The Palms, Lekki, Lagos, Silverbird Cinemas, The Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos, and Ozone Cinemas, E-Centre, Yaba, Lagos for showing times.
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